News

Over 11,000 New Jobs To Be Created In Liverpool By 2023

24th Feb 2020

Accountancy firm EY is predicting employment growth in Liverpool every year for the next three years in its latest Regional Economic Forecast.

Up to 11,600 new jobs will be created in Liverpool over the next three years, according to a new report.

Accountancy firm EY is predicting an average employment growth for the city of 1% a year from 2020 to 2023. Liverpool’s GVA is also expected to continue its year-on-year increase, rising by 1.8% per year over the forecast period.

The EY Regional Economic Forecast indicates Liverpool will outperform the wider North West on both fronts over the next three years with the region set to experience an average GVA growth of 1.6% and employment rate of 0.4% per year.

However, Manchester continues to storm ahead with the highest employment growth not just in the North West but the whole of the UK. Employment in the city is set to grow by 1.4% each year from 2020 to 2023, equivalent to 25,500 new jobs. Its GVA growth is also forecast to grow 2.3% a year.

Manchester’s buoyant outlook is underpinned by its private service sectors, most notably, its professional, scientific and technical and administrative and support service sectors, which are forecast to experience the fastest increase over the period.

Liverpool’s biggest employment growth is expected to come from the administrative and support service and human health and social work sectors. The professional, scientific and technical and administrative and support service sectors are the areas expected to experience the fastest levels of growth over this period.

Warrington is also expected to perform strongly with an increase in GVA of 1.9% and employment by 0.8%. In other towns across the North West the disparity between the major cities and towns is most evident.

Towns such Preston, Blackburn and Lancaster are set to grow in terms of both GVA (1.5%, 1.5% and 1.3%) and employment (0.5%, 0.1% and 0.7% respectively) but at a lower rate than the North West and considerably less than major cities like Manchester and Liverpool.

Across England, the largest cities will outperform their regions in economic growth. GVA in core cities will grow at 2.2% annually on average, compared to 1.5% for towns. In terms of forecast employment growth, cities will grow at 0.9% annually, 50% faster than the 0.6% growth forecast in towns.

Jenn Hazlehurst, office managing Partner at EY in Liverpool, said: “It’s encouraging to see Liverpool’s employment and GVA growth both on the up once again, outperforming both the North West region as a whole, and the UK.

“It’s also fantastic that our average employment growth is set to double over the next three years, generating around 11,500 new jobs for the city. However, we can’t get complacent and, although growth is forecast for Liverpool, we need to ensure that we continue to drive this growth and investment to ensure it is distributed into the wider Merseyside area and The Wirral.

“The North West benefits from a mixed economy – that’s what makes it resilient – with growth set to match the UK. We need more devolution right across the North West so that the Liverpool city region has the power to invest in the wider towns and communities, not just the core cities.

“What’s needed is a blend of public and private sector investment to spread the wealth right across the region for the benefit of everyone.”